Sunday, 13 May 2012

It Took A While!

It did take a while; both for me to write this long overdue
update and to cross the finish line in each of my last two races.

Before the wheels fell off at Sonoma 50

Two weeks ago, the classic UK 61 mile Fellsman was
epic in many ways but let’s step back a few weeks to Lake Sonoma and my second
50 mile race of the year. In my younger days I used to delight in pulling off
“back to back” challenges like the Fellsman and Scottish Islands Peaks race on
consecutive weekends and the High Peak Marathon on a Friday night followed by
the New Chew on the Sunday.

Based on that, I felt that 3 whole weeks should be ample
time for recovery from my efforts at the Backbone trail – I knew I had worked
kind of hard over the last 18 miles that day but, 3 weeks, surely.

Well, the field for Sonoma 50 was stellar. John and Lisa
have turned that event into one of the premier 50 milers and ensured an
invitational field that was deep, deep, deep. Conditions in the build-up were
pretty wet and I had already run the return leg of this out and back course so
figured it might be nicely wet and muddy – after all, there is a significant
subset of Californian runners who don’t like to get their feet wet so surely it
would be an advantange?

We set off fairly fast and generally speeded up on a roller
coaster of a course that really stops you getting into a rhythm. The hills are
short but sharp – I’m not complaining, I actually love the course, just wish I
ran it a bit better. First half was pretty much OK although I saw the leading
runners heading back way sooner than I had hoped and, boy, was Dakota running
fast or what!!

It was at about the turnaround that a wheel fell off. No big
thing but then a second one wobbled and fell too. OK -so we have a cart to pull but surely a few
gels and a bit of a drink would sort that out in minutes. No, actually both
hamstrings suddenly tightened on the descent back down to the lake after
Madrone Point and, before I knew it, all 4 wheels were off and I was dragging
the cart. Loosely translated this means a limping walk/shuffle at sub 4mph.

Oh dear, the trouble is I don’t really remember having to
deal with issues like these on races in the part. It is all perfectly normal; after
all, someone recently described Ultra-running as a long distance problem solving
exercise, but the mind has a strange ability to scrub out all the messy,
painful bits and just retain images of running effortlessly along sunlit
ridges.

So, feeling suitably sorry for myself I shuffled along for a
few minutes, past Wolflow springs where Stan Jensen recorded my split time with
a look that said “I remember when you used to be quicker than this” and onto
the next climb. This proved to be a very good opportunity to talk to myself –
along the lines of “well, you ARE going to finish this so do you want to wallow
in self pity as well as mud, take twice as long and be late for dinner with
Lynn’s family or do you want to take charge of the situation, make sensible
choices and get going as best as you can”. Put that way it seemed a no brainer
so I ate, drank, took big strides to work out some of the tightness in my
muscles and got going again. In the end though, the pretty girl always works so
when Darcy Africa trotted past me I decided this was a good opportunity to
strike up a conversation about Hardrock, running, life and everything. It worked
a treat. What you think is what you become right? So, I was thinking that I was
strong, studly and determined. Well, I at least managed the 3rd one
of those and so we ran together for about 5-6 miles before, amazingly, I pulled
ahead a little. The final 11 miles or so took a while but I was now catching
people again so the virtuous circle established itself, Underworld provided the
metronome and I even started running some ups again.

In the end, what I had hoped might be a sub 8-hour
completion became an 8hr 46minute effort but, hey, no-one older than me was
ahead of me and that’s one of the benchmarks these days.

The next day I flew back to the UK. Aisle seat booked, I put
on the compression socks and studiously walked around the plane a lot but boy
was I sore.It felt as if I hadn’t run
like that for months and the following days were not much better. Somehow 10 days
passed in a blur and it was time to head up to Yorkshire for the Fellsman

...and so, all too quickly, to 50 glorious years of the
Fellsman. Those who know me certainly know my soft spot for this event. First
attempted back at the age of 17 or so as an attempt to step up from the
challenges of the Masters Hike, Calderdale Hike and 4-Inns, this event in some
ways defines my running career.

After a DNF that first time with a knee locked solid I
returned a few years later as someone with ideas on a Bob Graham round and a
few fell races under my belt. Coming 2nd to Phil Clarke massively
exceeded my expectations as did the satisfaction of a grand day out in
Yorkshire. To this day I love the finish which gives just enough time to
appreciate the transition from the high moors to the enclosed fields and then
the descent down into the pretty little village of Grassington.

Over the years, a 3rd place, a batch of wins, a
12th (the wheels fell off that year) and a 2nd meant that
this would be my 18th start at the event. First priority was to
erase the disappointment of last year where I pulled a hamstring and dropped
out after only 11 miles. It really did not come as a surprise when my hamstrings
tightened again coming off Ingleborough – being honest, I had been bad about
stretching the past 2 weeks and had allowed the tightness developed after Sonoma
50 to remain. Ireally only had myself
to blame and it’s funny to reflect that sometimes it can be the littlest of
things we overlook or neglect.

I almost viewed it as a good thing – that I was forced to
slow down early. 6 weeks ago I had grand plans of giving Jez and the other youngsters
a run for their money on this course but previous races, the Backbone trail
efforts and more had left me feeling strong but not super fast. So, without the
leaders to worry about I could concentrate on my own race – well, apart from
dealing with the anxious comments and looks of those who still expect me to be
way out front!!

I think the real story of this year’s event is not mine – I stabilised
at about Kingshouse and clawed back a few places from there to record 12th
place in about 12hrs 30something – the real story is about the weather. The race
was held 2 weeks earlier than previously. Often though, late April weather can
be great and, sure enough, February and March were pretty dry months. The deluge
was well underway during April though and then the weekend of the event brought
biting Northerly and Easterly winds. What precipitation there was fell as hail
and sleet and the day just got colder. For most of the second half I was
running in long sleeve top, short sleeve top, goretex jacket, hat and gloves
and still cold!

At 2am, with checkpoints becoming overwhelmed with
hypothermia cases and with one ambulance call already underway the organisers
took the very difficult but entirely correct decision to abandon the event. It
is a testament to their emergency plan that everyone was returned to base and
that everyone was eventually OK despite a few hypothermia cases. On the final
section as I raced the fading daylight from Park Rash I was acutely aware that
if I had to stop for any reason I would be in big trouble within minutes. I
only really had a survival bag and that would have done nothing. It is sobering
to remember that conditions in the UK can be so demanding.

So, 2 races, both finished solidly and in times that I was
not happy with but finished nevertheless. Just under 4 weeks now until the 100
miler so I hope they will stand me in good stead. It is clear that I am not
going to be leading at San Diego but its another piece of unfinished business
to get out of the way. I know a good chunk of the course now and it is
beautiful. Two weeks after that I get to work really hard pacing none other
than Lizzy Hawker at Western States. .Acutely aware that there is a good chance
I might get dropped I really need to keep the training going.

P o w e r e d b y :

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You can expect to find regular updates on the trials and tribulations of my training and racing and, over time, accounts of various races, runs, adventures and record attempts from the past 20 years of running long in the hilly and wild areas of the UK and overseas